The Expertology people in elected offices (and appointed positions) are running out of wriggle room. The growing dissatisfaction echoed on the radio talk shows and newspapers with all levels of government from the state to the local levels is the manifestation of past and present lack of Urban Planning and building sustainable communities. Models for good growth and 20/20 hindsight issues abound. However, elected officials and Deciders remain adamant about sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring the problems as well as opportunities as we grow in this valley.
The County Deciders have managed to box themselves into a corner with the jail, licensing offices, courtroom space, rural development and transportation corridor issues. They have managed to ignore all of the aforementioned items for years and years. The current crop of Canyon County Deciders want all of us to join the "reactive management bandwagon". The question is and remains .... Where's The Plan?
At the City of Caldwell level we are all going to get to view the latest set of "pretty pictures" put together by the Oppenheimer Group on the 29th of this month. City Deciders shelled out another $50,000.00 on top of the $140,000.00 paid out for the dust collecting Leland Report on top of yet another report put together by Sheri Mckibben and Diane Kushlan before that. We are going to get more blather that a new city hall will be a catalyst for economic development in downtown Caldwell. What is the real solution..take a good hard look at what happened with the city of Boise. The CCDC went in and bought up the properties and leveled the sites in preparation for "economic development". Their Comp Plan demanded that government offices be located in downtown. Economic growth stemmed from the need for other services once the government office deal took off.
What needs to be done? We need a set of folks in elected offices that really understand the ramifications of not having a well thought out plan for growth and the concept of SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES. Urban Planning and a high degree of cooperation and "future vision" at all levels of elected government (especially with Canyon County, Caldwell and Nampa). Another subdivision with culdesacs and a commute to Boise for a job is not "sustainable" now or into the future. You can't build nor can we afford this approach as we move forward in this century.
Think about the transportation mess this valley has right now. We have a transportation corridor called I-84 that was designed to handle the needs local population of around 60,000 people built 50 years ago. Not much has happened with this vital link since it was originally built. Now, after all of the neglect and not paying attention to growth or having a plan, we are going to audit IDT for waste and duplication of effort. Probably a good idea but it won't generate the cash to solve the problems that we should have been addressing early on in this mess. Those in elected offices have failed in thier fiduciary obligations to taxpayers to make certain all growth pays for itself. Impact fee laws are very poorly written to actually be of any help to local government unless they jump through the hoops and strictures put there by developers who helped in writing these laws.
Next, we have Canyon County government. These folks have consistently granted conditional use permits that are in juxtaposition to our County Comprehensive Plan goals and objectives. We have small developments out in the middle of rural farm ground used for seed crop production creating a nightmare for the seed production people. No thought given to the possibility that a backyard vegetable plot may ruin hundreds of acres of seed crops. Pollen follows the wind currents and will pollenate at will seed crops of a like gene pool. Add to that, fragile and inadequate farm to market roads that are now under vehicle pressures they were never designed to handle and we have another mess. Again, No Plan and No Political will to make growth pay for itself from the deciders at the county level. The current crop of Commishes continue overturning staff and Planning and Zoning Commission decisions on a regular basis. Developers consider the appeal process as a cost of doing business and that they will prevail at the Commish and city council levels, if not they simply lodge a huge civil lawsuit in order to get thier way.
Developers continue to dodge impact fees at city levels. Now we are all get to reap the results of NO PLAN for sustainable growth and no political will. We are all going to have to clean up the wreckage left behind for want of some clear Urban Planning via more property taxes.
Elected deciders at all levels have failed to develop plans for growth and have not taken full advantage of the Idaho Land Use Planning Act. Add to that city ordinances that are outdated and weak or not understood by anyone. Most of them probably have no idea of the contents of their land use laws. Accommodating developers at any cost to the people of the community is how we have operated.
To be sure, the State Legislature made enactment of impact fees a real challenge for local government but they also have the power to change these poorly written laws before the next round of growth hits this valley.
We have an election on the 27th of this month and an opportunity to reverse the myopic history of planning, building sustainable communities and general lack of forward thinking that has been condoned for far too long. We should all make the effort to nail down where candidates stand on vital planning issues. Otherwise, we simply get more of the same.
If anyone actually thinks more subdivisions with culdesacs and a commute to Boise is sustainable, they too live in a fantasy world. We can't tax ourselves enough nor can be build roads wide enough or fast enough to accommodate this line of thinking as we move forward.
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